LAS VEGAS – Sampson Lewkowicz, the risk-taking promoter who backed Hall of Famers Manny Pacquiao and Sergio Martinez, among others, has emerged as lead promoter for the daring outdoor summer boxing event in San Francisco aiming to draw more than 100,000 fans.
Lewkowicz told BoxingScene Friday that the July 11 show intends to stage eight fights, topped by a main event featuring a world champion he expects to divulge during a worldwide Thursday news conference that will be accessible – like the show – on major outlets including YouTube, TikTok and more.
The event, backed by Ed Pereira, a lifelong boxing fan and the CEO of London-based marketing company iVisit Media, was first touted at the five-acre Civic Center Plaza during a January press ceremony attended by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
Lewkowicz explained he plans to charge for some seats with good ringside views, but said most attendees can watch the bouts for free on mounted screens.
The bouts will be streamed globally on a pay-per-view basis.
While Pereira was connected to the failed Saudi Arabia-backed Times Square boxing card in New York that sent Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez into a fenced-off corner viewable by virtually no one on the street, this event has taken those lessons into consideration while working to win city cooperation.
“You will be able to see the fights from all over the park,” Lewkowicz said. “Absolutely no promoter on Earth can do what I plan to do with [Northern California promoter] Paco Damian.”
Uruguay’s Lewkowicz said his upbringing in the sport from manufacturing gloves, to matchmaking, managing and finally promoting defines a genuine adoration for the sport that makes him uniquely qualified to pull this event off while others fled.
“Nobody believed in these guys, but I saw something that the promoters with an education didn’t,” Lewkowicz said. “I may have been raised from the street, but I feel like I’m a fighter against the other promoters and I know that I’ve done many things, regardless of the consequence, where I’ve won big.”
He spoke of others not supporting his fighters Pacquiao and Argentina’s Martinez when he handled them, recalls three promoters balking to sign David Benavidez when he was overshadowed by his older brother, Jose Benavidez Jnr.
David on Saturday fights to become a three-division champion on a pay-per-view main event at T-Mobile Arena here.
“Nobody believed in Manny Pacquiao. I did. Nobody would sign Sergio ‘Maravilla’ Martinez. [Top Rank promoter Bob] Arum told me, ‘I don’t need him,’” Lewkowicz recalled while comparing the past hesitancy to this Bay Area undertaking.
“David Benavidez went to three different promoters before going to the Virgin Islands, where I promoted. Nobody took him. I took him. And look at him today. Nobody saw what I saw because I have a mind that – while I didn’t go to a college – I love boxing and I learned this sport from scratch.”
Lewkowicz is also aligned with 6-feet-6 WBC junior-middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora and his undisputed flyweight champion sister, Gabriela.
“I’m willing to give up my cars, my house, my money, but I will never betray anyone. I will not lie for anyone. When I say something is the truth, it is, and I’ve lost a lot of friends over that, especially in boxing,” he said.
His decision to promote the San Francisco effort, to be further discussed Thursday, came again as others retreated.
Why? “Because they’re not smart like me,” he cracked.
“Some of those [promoters] were lost because they got greedy. It’s very simple: Many of these promoters are multi-millionaires, and they want to have more millions,” Lewkowicz said.
“I don’t want to have more millions. I want to have a legacy, the spectacle. The legacy is more important than the money.”
Bringing boxing to the masses, showcasing the sporting action, the joy of victory in such a widespread way won over Lewkowicz.
He spoke of being the only promoter to commit to sponsoring more than 100 amateur Uruguay fighters, one of whom has graduated to a spot on the San Francisco planned card.
“Nobody knows that what I do is based on the love of the sport. Other promoters love the money and are greedy. So these people walked away,” he said.
“I’ve been with my wife for 52 years. I don’t go to bars. Nobody saw me hanging around or spending my money stupidly. I’m in the Hall of Fame in Atlantic City, not in [the International Boxing Hall of Fame in] Canastota, but you will see that night how much I care about this sport.”
Can the San Francisco event take a financial bath?
“I don’t think so,” he said, admitting the original ambition to draw a record 140,000 people to the event is likely too grandiose.
“But we can beat 100,000,” Lewkowicz said.
